angry white men - to be continued

i drive thru south carolina this morning bracing for the equal parts hostility and enthusiasm i usually face - i get 54 miles into the state before i receive on giant smile, body wave, and excited nod of the head from an african american womon. everyone else has been silent - even those i catch reading the truck & making eye-contact - they quickly, & without expression, whip their eyes back to the pavement stretching before us.
i wonder at this a-typical silence from the deep south - are people just not reading the truck or are they deeply ashamed or maybe baffled into silence? i notice tons of traffice exiting the freeway, not one car using it's signal - maybe everyone is silent about everything this morning.
by the time i leave the perimeters of the biggest city greenville and drive nto the country toward the georgia border, i begin to pick up several 'fuck you's' from angry white males. they lean out their windows, reach across their passengers, change lanes to get closer to me so i can see their faces as detailed as fall leaves etched in anger & disbelief.
so these men aren't so silent after all. an african american male truck driver pulls up next to me, waves, nodding vigorously, and gives me the peace sign. as i cross over the border into georgia, several white youth wave the peace symbol thru the roof window and out the sides of vans, cars, and mini-station wagons, happy to see the truck.
i drive into atlanta amidst horns, fists, peace symbols - i feel welcome & glad to be in safer - i.e. african american - territory. i'm going to go directly to my daughter's work. i drive down a narrow, 4 lane winding city street divided by a solid double yellow line & bordered by trees & sidewalk, not a hint of a shoulder. i notice a large white pick-up truck, attempting to pull around me over the solid line into on-coming traffice. the driver, a young white male w/a shaved hed, is honking his horn & screaming out the window. i ignore him until he pulls into the lane next to me - his skin now a bright red as words & saliva stream out his mouth: 'fuck you, idiot, fuckin' liberal, anti-american commie'. i try to give him my best disbelief & 'who do you think you are' look.